Hamilton’s jobless rate holds steady in March

It sat unchanged at 6.4 per cent last month

Hamilton’s unemployment rate went unchanged in March, newly released numbers show.

The city had an unemployment rate of 6.4 per cent last month — remaining flat from February, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

While the rate has held steady, it represents a nearly one per cent increase from the same time last year, when the unemployment rate for the city was 5.5 per cent.

The city’s jobless rate declined last year between March and June, falling to 4.7 per cent in the latter, however, the rate has grown nearly every month since, according to labour force data. Hamilton now sits roughly three points below Ontario’s unemployment rate of 6.7 per cent — which rose just slightly from February.

The unemployment rate in the neighbouring region of St. Catharines-Niagara grew slightly to 7.6 per cent in March, up from 7.5 in the previous month.

Statistics Canada reported that the employment rate changed little last month, the economy shedding 2,200 jobs after months of modest gains.

The national jobless rate jumped to 6.1 per cent in March, up from 5.8 in February — marking the largest monthly increase in unemployment since summer 2022.

The labour market report noted that the rise in the jobless rate was driven by an increase of 60,000 people searching for work or temporarily laid off.

The total number of unemployed people in the country stood at 1.3 million last month — an increase of nearly 250,000 compared with a year ago.

The latest StatCan report showed that job losses last month were most felt in accommodation and food services, followed by wholesale and retail trade and professional, scientific and technical services. Meanwhile, employment increased in four industries, led by health care and social assistance.